Tired Observations
by sherina
Summary: After too many cases and too little sleep, one BAU member witnesses the truth between two others.


David Rossi put down the stack of papers he had been reading. Really, he had only been pretending since he was too tired to focus on anything right now. They were flying back to the BAU, and he thought they were somewhere over Baltimore right now, though he was so wrecked they could have been tooling over Cairo and he wouldn't have known the difference. It had been so long since he had slept in his own bed that it wouldn't have mattered much to be perfectly honest.

The team had been hit the ground running two weeks ago, taking a case that flew them down to Spring Valley just outside of San Diego and they hadn't stopped since. It seemed that they barely got home before they had to fly somewhere new. It wasn't always this busy, thank God, but when it was back to back to back it got to the point where he could empathize with soldiers going through sleep deprivation training.

The last time he had been home - three days ago? Four? - he had been so tired that he hadn't even made it to the bedroom, crashing face-down on the couch until Hotch had woken him up by calling his cell phone to tell him to grab his bag and get back to the office. He hadn't showered in a few days and he was pretty sure Reid had been wearing the same shirt for the past three days.

The plane banked slightly and Rossi glanced around. Morgan was plugged into his iPod, but his head was down on the table; he was sound asleep. Reid had fallen asleep with his head tilted back, mouth hanging open and it seemed that he wsa snoring slightly. The noise didn't appear to be bothering anyone since JJ was stretched out with her arm across her face, oblivious to the world around her. Poor JJ, between coming back to work last month and her baby going through a fussy sleepless phase, Rossi was surprised she was capable of forming full sentences; the fact that she was still managing to select cases and hold press conferences was incredible.

Emily Prentiss was stretched out too, directly across from him, turned to one side to face him, but her eyes were closed, given into exhaustion too. Rossi tried to remind himself of the ways that the rules had changed since his first round at the BAU and chastised himself for admiring her form as she lay there sleeping. A faint hint of a frown creased her forehead; the case had been difficult and the only happy ending had been the fact that they caught the un-sub. It had been a shame that they hadn't found him before he managed to kill another five children. He had overheard Emily expressing a longing for children when talking to JJ one recent morning; she seemed to be taking the afternath of the case harder than she usually allowed.

Hotchner was somewhere behind him, apparently the only other one awake, judging by the faint shuffling of papers from the back of the plane and the occasional soft sigh. Aaron Hotchner, part cyborg apparently, trudging forward no matter how tired the team might be. Rossi thought Hotch may have been the only human sleeping fewer hours per day than JJ's baby.

Deciding to give up on reports until he had gotten at least a few hours of sleep, a shower, and a decent mug of coffee, Rossi let his eyes close too. He willed his brain to let him sleep for the duration of the flight so that he would feel able to get behind the wheel and drive himself home when they landed.

He heard a movement from behind him as Hotch got up and took a few steps in his direction. Assuming that he wanted to talk over the case, Rossi resigned himself to having to go through the reports now after all, and cracked one eye open. Hotch wasn't facing him though, and instead had crouched down beside Emily's head.

Rossi closed his eye enough to appear asleep while still allowing himself to see what was going on. He watched as Hotch leaned over to whisper something that he couldn't hear. The head of the BAU glanced around, checking on everyone else. Apparently satisfied that everyone was asleep, Hotch reached his hand out and gently stroked Emily's cheek. Her eyes fluttered open and she started to sit up until she realized where she was. Like Hotch, she peered around the edge of her seat to see if anyone was looking.

"Aaron," she said softly. Aaron. No one on the team called him Aaron. Unless no one else was around, apparently.

"It's okay, they're all asleep," Hotch said. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I just... I don't know. I just wanted to check on you."

"I'm okay," Emily shrugged. "Or I will be. But thanks."

Hotch bent and kissed her forehead and she reached up to run her fingers through his hair, still glancing at the other passengers. She slid her hand down to the back of his neck and pulled him down, kissing his lips gently.

"Go back to sleep," Hotch told her. "When we land I want you to go straight home. As soon as I drop everything off at the office I'll come see you."

"Did you remember your key?" she asked, already closing her eyes.

Hotch smoothed her hair out, tucking it behind her ear. "Yes, love, I always have it."

She didn't answer. She was probably already asleep. Hotch got up quietly, glanced around one last time, then slipped back to his seat.

Rossi turned this news over in his head. He had thought the two of them had gotten close, but he had assumed it was strictly on a working level due to mutual respect and common interest. There were so many reasons why this was a terrible idea, the least of which that it was against the rules of the bureau. Not only did Prentiss and Hotchner work together but he was her superior. Either of them - both of them - could get fired. At best, one of them would have to leave the BAU. Would they flip a coin if that happened?

And what about the team? Would they take the brunt of it if this apparent relationship turned ugly and fell apart?

If he thought about it though, there was no better match that he could imagine than those two. Both anal-retentive, perfectionist, dedicated, hard-working... Who was he to judge? He had been divorced too many times, not to mention dumped flat on his ass by girlfriends more than he could remember. No one had ever been able to handle what he did for a living, no one had ever understood what it required and what it took out of him. Haley had done no better accepting Hotch for what this team and life meant to him.

Maybe Hotchner and Prentiss had found the perfect match for each other. Who else would ever really get this insanity as well as someone else who went through it every day too?

Rossi thought about what he had just seen in Hotchner's expression that he had never seen before - a tenderness and longing and something that may well have been love.

Who knew? Hotchner and Prentiss just might have found what he never had. Rossi turned his head and let himself drift towards sleep. Good for them.


End file.
